Homecoming
by ShadowSteel18
Summary: Part of the 5th Anniversary Celebration: It's has only been a few weeks since Saito and Louise have come to Japan in the hopes have finally having some peace and quite, but sometime life isn't that easy. Everything from a Mysterious Girl with Superhuman powers to a new threat to the world they had just left, Adventure seems to always find them. (Rating and Story-Type may change)
1. There is No Learning Curve

Chapter 1: There Is No Learning Curve

 **Author's Note: Hey guys. I know that It's been awhile since I have either updated or publised a new Anime fan-fic, but today we are dealing with a new prequel to the next fan-fic. This particualr fan-fic is based in another one of my fan-fics, "The Evolution of Haruhi Suzumiya". Though it's still being worked on this prequel is supposed to set things up for one of the many sequels to "The Evolution of Haruhi Suzumiya". This means that "Homecoming" is only going to be a maximum of 10 to 15 Chapters. Hopefully by this time "The Evolution of Haruhi Suzumiya" would reach a point where I can start working on the sequel.**

 **Naturally there will be a few references to "The Evloution of Haruhi Suzumiya" (Some of which are still a ways off), but the bulk of these references are mainly from the anime and manga of "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya". There are also going to be a lot of references to the anime "Zero no Tsukaima" (A.K.A. "Familiar of Zero" in the US). In fact this is the first time that I have based one of my fan-fic on the anime rather than the manga. Much like with "Closing the Gap" I will explain this in a video on my YouTube Channel.**

 **Oh! On a side note, the name of this chapter has a bit of a hidden reference. I will reveal this reference in the next chapter.**

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It had only been a few weeks since Saito and Louise came to live on Earth. Since then Saito and Louise had been trying to adjust to living in a modern world. For the most part Saito had kept both his return and Louise's appearance a secret. The only people that knew he had returned was his mother and father. In fact he had little choice but to explain to his parents that he had married Louise as well as become a hero in another world. Even though his mother seemed to believe him to an extent his father was an entirely different matter.

His father had severed in the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force and didn't tend to joke around. What's more was that he was still close with a United States Air Force Pilot who was stationed at the Misawa Air Base, so he was still very much involved with the military. It also didn't help that Louise couldn't speak any Japanese, but instead a language that to most people on Earth seemed to be made up made things a little harder. Every time Saito would translate for her his father would start to get fairly pissed off. As a result Satio didn't want to tell anyone else that he had come back until Louise could speak Japanese. However Saito knew that there was a major obstacle that he was going to have to deal with sooner or later.

After only a few weeks of living in Japan, Louise started to practice her magic. Unfortunately because natural mana on Earth was almost non-existence it was very hard for her. She knew she had to be extremely careful because if she failed to cast a spell there would be a massive explosion. Back on her world of Halkeginia this wasn't a problem as magic was a normal part of people's lives. However on Earth she was the only mage on there.

One day while she was practicing a simple transmutation spell she was suddenly jumped from one of Saito's neighbors. "Hey! Whatcha ya up to?" the girl asked. With in a matter of seconds Louise lost concentration and as a result there was a massive explosion. Saito as well as his mother and father rushed outside to see what had happened. As the smoke cleared they could see that Louise's clothes were singed, but nothing seemed to be damaged. Saito quickly rushed over to Louise and asked her if she was okay. However another voice quickly turned his attention away from her. "Wow... Was that a bolt of lightning?"

He whipped his head toward the sound of the voice and could see that a young girl his age was just as singed as Louise. "Maeko!?" he exclaimed. Louise looked over to the young girl. She had short black hair, light blue eyes, and a prominent fang-like tooth in the left side of her mouth. In fact for Louise the girl looked a lot like Siesta in a lot of ways.

Maeko climbed over the fence and dropped into Saito's backyard. "Heya! It's been awhile," she said. Louise looked over to Saito then over to Maeko. "Do you know her Saito?" she asked. Naturally Louise was speaking Halkeginian which was a bit of a problem for Maeko. However Saito could still understand her perfectly. "Yeah she is an old childhood friend Maeko Sasaki. She lives next door," he said.

It was at this point that everyone heard a knock at the door. They then heard a voice calling out to them. "Hey! Is everyone alright?" the voice called out. Saito's father quickly rushed to the front door. He then opened it and allowed the person inside. They then rushed back to the backyard. It turned out that the voice was of the US Air Force Pilot that Saito's father was good friends with. He simply took one look at the situation and just smiled. "To be honest I was expecting something a lot worse," he said.

Saito, Louise, and Maeko all looked over to the US pilot. They were a little surprised by him but for different reasons. "Uh... Hey Mathew, what are you doing here?" Saito asked. Meanwhile Maeko was more surprised by the fact that Mathew was in the area at all. After all the air base he was usually stationed at was at the far north of Japan. Louise on the other hand was surprised to see a man in a military uniform. To her just the sight of a solider was a bit of a worry. After all she had thought that Earth was a peaceful planet, and the fact that there was a solider usually meant that there was a threat of war.

It was quickly becoming apparent that Saito was going to have to explain in detail what had happened. Everyone started to gather in the living room, prepared to listen to Saito. Louise went upstairs to go change while Maeko simply wiped off the soot from her face. Once everyone had gotten comfortable Saito began to explain what was going on. He first introduced Louise to both Maeko and Mathew and told them that she was from a world called Halkeginia. He then told them that the reason he had been gone for a year was because he had been summoned as Louise's familiar. He explained to the two of them how he and Lousie were regarded as heroes in the world of Halkeginia, as well as how he eventually married Louise.

After he finished explaining everything he ended up getting two responses that he wasn't expecting. The first one to respond was Mathew. He just started to laugh quietly to himself, which shocked Saito and his father. "This is nothing new for me," he said. "To be honest this isn't even the craziest thing I've been involved it." The look on Saito's face said it all. The fact that Mathew seemed to think that this was normal was shocking. "What do you mean?" Saito's father asked. Mathew smiled as he began to explain, rather cryptically, why he wasn't surprised. "You may not know this but for the past four years I have been involved with a segment of the US Armed Forces called the S.O.U. So stuff like this is almost an everyday thing," he said.

Suddenly Maeko jumped into the fray. With a sly smile on her face she looked over to Saito and said, "You know... Am-Chan isn't going be happy about this." Saito rolled his eyes as he shook his head. However Louise pulled his arm and asked him who this "Am-Chan" was. Once again she was speaking Halkeginian so no one other than Saito could understand her. "Maeko is referring to a friend of mine. Am-Chan is a nickname, her real name is Rebecca White," he said.

Mathew then started to speak up again. "It sounds like she is speaking a bastardized version of French," he said. He then looked over to Louise and began to try and speak to her. "Do you understand what I am saying right now," he asked. He was speaking full on French hoping that Louise would understand just a little bit. "AH! You can speak our language!" Louise exclaimed.

Saito looked over to Mathew. He was a bit surprised by this development. After all ever since Louise failed to cast her silencing spell on him one year earlier he was the only one who could properly understand her. "You are actually speaking a bastardized version of French, so it isn't that hard for me to understand you," Mathew said. He then turned Saito's father. He was a bit confused on why he wasn't able to understand Louise one bit. His answer was pretty blunt. "It was because I never learned French when I joined the JASDF," he said.

Mathew then turned back to Louise. "You know you might end up being good friends with another girl I know. After all she is into all that strange and mysterious stuff," he said. It was at this point that Saito's mother who had been fairly silent the entire time interjected. "She and Saito will be attending North High soon," she said. Mathew turned to Saito's mother and smiled. He then said that he would see to it that Louise would be taken care of when she started attending. "Well that's cryptic," Saito said. Mathew laughed it off and said that it was all apart of the S.O.U.

He then started to make his way toward the door with Saito's father accompanying him. As they reached the door Mathew leaned in toward Saito's father and whispered something to him. "What Saito said is true. Louise is from another world called Halkeginia. But by the sound of it she is the first one to come here willingly," he said. He then left the house, leaving little doubt in Saito's father's mind that he knew more than what he was letting on.

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After Mathew had left Saito, Louise, and Maeko were all sitting in Saito's room. Louise was trying her best to get to know Maeko, but because she could speak any Japanese just yet it was still very difficult for her. What's more Maeko didn't know any other languages other than Japanese so she would have to rely of Saito to translate for her. "So you are from another world, huh?" Maeko asked. After Saito repeated the question Louise responded. "Uh... Yes, I am from the country of Tristain," she said. Once again Saito relaid the information to Maeko. However before Maeko could ask another question Louise leaned over to Saito and said, "You know Saito, she looks a lot like Siesta."

Naturally Maeko was a little curious on what Louise said. When she asked Saito about it he began to scratch his head. "Well, it is just that you seem to remind Louise of a friend of ours back on Tristain," he said. Maeko was made even more curious about this mystery person. She quickly asked Saito who it was, however she was not expecting the answer that he gave her.

"Well, her name is Siesta. She is a maid back on Tristain. She says that she came from a world with one moon, though I am not sure if that is true," Saito explained. Maeko was pretty confused by the term "one moon". It was only when Saito explained that in the world of Halkeginia there were two moons in the sky did the term make any sense. However it was what Saito said next that nearly threw Maeko over the edge. "Though sometimes I wonder if her great grandfather was from this world. After all his grave stone was written in Kanji. Plus her great grandfather had an old Zero fighter," he said.

This caught Maeko's attention. "What do you mean?" she asked. Saito could see that Maeko was a little unnerved by his statement. However he couldn't figure out why. "Well Siesta's great grandfather had what many people on Tristain called the Dragon's Raiment. What it actually was an old A6M2 Zero with the Kanji for Dragon written on the front cowl," he said. Suddenly Maeko shot straight up. Her fist was clenched and her eyes were covered by her hair.

"LIAR! THERE IS NO WAY HE WAS THERE!" she shouted. She then stormed out of the room. Saito and Louise were stunned. In a split second Maeko's cheerful personality disappeared. They had no idea what had happened. All they knew was that something they said made her upset. "What do you think that was about?" Louise asked. Saito shrugged and shook his head. "I don't know, but I am going to find out," he said.

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Saito quickly rushed out the door and was heading to Maeko's house when he heard another familiar voice. "Saito!? Is that you?" Saito turned to the direction of the voice and could see a young girl with long hazel brown hair and pale blue eyes. "Uh... Hey Rebecca," he said. Saito could tell that the girl was stunned to see him. "When did you get back?" the girl asked. Saito looked back toward Maeko's house then back toward the girl. "Can we talk later? I have to clear up something with Maeko," he said.

Saito then tried to head over Maeko's house but then the girl grabbed his arm. "Like hell you are! Just where the hell have you been?" she shouted. It was at this point that Louise stepped out to see what was going on. What she was a little strange to her. "Saito who is that?" she asked. Both the girl and Saito looked over to Louise. The let go of Saito's arm and Saito introduced the two of them to each other. "Louise this is Rebecca. Rebecca this Louise," he said.

Suddenly both Saito and Louise noticed that Rebecca was starting to back away from the two of them. "No... How... How did you get here?" she asked. Saito and Louise looked at each other, a little confused on what Rebecca was talking about. "She is a member of the Vallière family isn't she," she said. Saito stumbled backwards in shock. After all he hadn't told her Louise's full name. "How did you know..." Rebecca clenched her fist then slapped Saito across the face. She then stood over him and shouted, "Asshole!" After that she stormed off.

Louise helped Saito back to his feet, confused on what was going on. Neither of them knew what happened. However for Saito the fact that Rebecca knew Louise's last name was a big red flag. He turned to Louise and asked her, "Hey, you are the only member of your family to come to my world, right?" Louise gave him a skeptical look. She had no idea what Saito was trying to say. When she asked him why it even mattered the answer Saito gave her was a bit of a surprise. "It's because Rebecca knew your family's last name," he said.

Louise thought about it for a few seconds before she shook her head and said that she was the only member of the Vallière family to travel to Earth. She then turned her attention to Maeko's house. She was more concerned about Maeko than she was for someone she barely knew at that point. "Do you think that we can still apologize to her now?" she asked. Saito shook his head. "It's getting late already. Well have to apologize tomorrow," he said. "Though I would still like to figure out why everyone was so out of it today." Louise nodded her head and suggested that the four of them hang out together.

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The next morning Saito, Louise, Maeko, and Rebecca decided to meet up at Akihabara. It was a way to both show Louise the Otaku Culture as well as get to know Maeko and Rebecca a little more. As they walked down the main street Saito decided to ask Maeko about her outburst the previous night. Maeko glanced over to Saito then turned her head away. "You know what you did," she said. Saito just rolled his eyes. He knew that she was trying to get him to do something that he would later regret.

Knowing that she would end up talking to him later, Saito then turned his attention to Rebecca. The entire time they had been together she had been keeping her distance from Louise. It was pretty obvious that she didn't like her for one reason or another. The question was why. "So... Rebecca? You knew Louise's last name, right?" he asked. Rebecca stopped in her tracks and turned to face Saito. "Yeah... What about it?" she asked.

Saito could see that she was very annoyed by his questioning. After all it almost seemed to be a personal thing for her. The look in her eyes seemed to bore a hole through his head as her pale blue eyes seemed to show very little life in them. Louise on the other hand could see that Rebecca was a bit angry at Saito. The cold stare alone seemed to cause Saito to freeze. "Just what do you have against Saito!?" she shouted.

Rebecca turned to Louise and actually responded to her. "I don't have a problem with him. I have a problem with you and your family," she said. Both Saito and Maeko were shocked by this. Mainly because Rebecca had spoken full on Halkeginian. The only person who was unfazed by this was Louise. In fact she continued like nothing had happened. "What do you mean by that? I am the first one within my family to even come her," she said. Rebecca clenched her fist and shook her head. Saito could see that Rebecca's body was starting to shake as she started to become more and more pissed off.

"It's obvious that you don't know the first thing about your own family!" Rebecca shouted. "After all my great grandmother was a member of the Vallière Family and she came here well before you did!" Louise and Saito looked at each other in shock. They had thought that Louise was the only mage on Earth. So the fact the another member of the Vallière Family had managed to travel to Earth a full three generations prior to Louise was a bit of a shock to say the least.

"Do you know what her name was?" Saito asked. Rebecca turned to face him, but the look she gave him sent chills down his spine. "If you must know, jackass, her name was Anastase de La Vallière," she said. She turned back to Louise keeping the same glare that she had give Saito. "My great grandmother was trying to get out of an arranged marriage, but when she finally escaped she was disowned by her family. We've had to struggle to survive for the past 90 years all because of the both the Vallière family and the Anhalt-Zerbst family," she said.

As soon as she said that Louise immediately started to laugh. This took Rebecca off guard as she had no idea why she was suddenly laughing at her statement. It was only after Saito explained to her that Louise's biggest rivals at Tristain Magical Academy was a member of the Anhalt-Zerbst family that she realized why she was laughing. For once Rebecca could see that Louise wasn't so much different to her, and to some respect she could even see her as a sister. For the first time that day Rebecca finally cracked a smile.

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As the four of them continued to explore Akihabara Louise and Rebecca started to talk about what life was like in the modern world. Rebecca explained to Louise that Japan was very different to the "Western World" and the even she had yet to get adjusted to life in Japan. It was right at this point that Maeko pointed to a large crowd of people. "What's going on over there?" Louise asked. Rebecca rolled her eyes and looked over to Saito. "It's probably a cosplayer," he said. Suddenly Maeko made a beeline for the crowd, camera in hand. Both Saito and Rebecca groaned and shook their heads. "I guess we're gonna have to go after her," Rebecca said. Saito nodded and the three of them started to brave the crowd.

"Jeez, why does she always have to do this crap," Rebecca said. Saito shrugged and looked over to Louise. He wanted to make sure that she was doing alright and that she was sticking close to him. To his surprise she seemed to be extremely excited. He couldn't help but smile as he watched her. "It kinda reminds me of my first time to Akihabara," Rebecca chuckled.

"Yeah I remember that. That was the first time the three of us got to know each other," Saito said.

It was at this point that they could see Maeko trying to make her way back to them. She was waving her camera around as she pushed through the crowd. "You guys won't believe this!" she shouted. "There is an amazing maid cosplay going on over there!" Saito rolled his eyes and turned to Rebecca who shrugged. However neither one of them realized that Louise had gotten away from them. It wasn't until Maeko ask where she was that they realized that she had disappeared.

"Maybe she went to the front of the crowd to see the cosplayer," Maeko said. The three of them all agreed and tried to make their way to the front. But before they could even get there they started to notice that the crowd getting more restless. Then Saito heard Louise's voice. She was trying to disperse the crowd for some reason, however he could hear that she was starting to desperate.

Without hesitation Saito rushed to Louise, shoving anyone who was in his way. Rebecca and Maeko saw this and realized that something was wrong. The two of them looked at each other and knew that whatever was going on was somewhat serious. However once they got to the front of the crowd all three of them were a bit shocked. In front of them was a young maid with Louise standing in front of her in a protective manner. "What the heck is she doing?" Maeko asked.

"Siesta!" Saito shouted. He then rushed over and stood by Louise. He then started to help with dispersing the crowd. In a commanding fashion Saito started to shout at the crowd, even going so far as to take a fighting stance. Seeing this Rebecca realized that the maid was someone Saito and Louise knew personally. She quickly made her way beside Saito and Louise. "Someone you know from your time away?" she asked in a sarcastic manner. Saito chuckled and nodded. "What was your first clue?" he asked.

The two of them quickly made short work of the crowd as they shouted at them and waved them off. As soon as they were gone Saito and Rebecca turned their attention to the maid. The maid looked up at Saito and without warning hugged him. While she was hugging him Louise decided to hug the maid in response. This in turn cause Saito to fall backwards and hit the ground. "I am so glad I found you Saito," the maid said.

She was speaking in the same Halkeginian language that Louise tended to speak. Because of this Maeko had no idea what she was saying. However Rebecca could understand just a little bit. Even though she could speak the Halkeginian language she was still learn quite a bit of it. There were still a few things that she needed help with.

"Honestly Saito, what were you doing there for the past year?" she asked. She was speaking Halkeginian so she could get the attention of the maid who was in the middle of a human sandwich. Rebecca reached her hand out to help the three of them back to their feet. The maid looked up to Rebecca and took her hand. She then turned to Saito and asked him who Rebecca was. Saito turned to Rebecca as she rolled her eyes.

"My name is Rebecca White," she said. The maid began to smile as she introduced herself. "It is a pleasure to meet you, my name is Siesta," she said. She then turned to Saito and asked where she was. Saito looked around trying to figure out what to say, but before he could Rebecca chimed in. "You are in Akihabara. It's a shopping district in Japan," she said.

Siesta looked around the city, her eye wide with wonder. While she was looking around Maeko walked over to Saito and asked him what was going on. Saito looked over to Louise. He knew that it was going to be a problem Maeko couldn't understand Louise or anyone from Halkeginia for that matter. He then asked Louise if it was possible to use the same spell that she had used on him to help Maeko understand her. Rebecca heard this exchange and asked him what he had meant by it.

"Well when I first came to Halkeginia I wasn't able to understand a word that anyone said," Saito said. It was then that Louise jumped in and finished explaining the story. "Naturally Saito was in a panic and wouldn't shut the hell up, so I tried to cast a Silencing spell on him," she added.

"Then did it wear off?" Rebecca asked. Saito shook his head. He then explained that Louise had messed up the incantations and as a result failed to cast the spell. "Instead of casting a Silencing spell I ended casting a spell that allowed Saito to understand the Halkeginian language," Louise said.

"So you want her to try and recreate that?" Rebecca asked. It was obvious by the look on her face that Rebecca wasn't happy about the idea. However Saito had no idea why. He knew that if Louise did recreate the events that allowed him to understand the Halkeginian language would result in an explosion, but he assumed that Rebecca didn't know this. "I rather you not purposely fail at saying the incantations," she said.

Louise started to glare at Rebecca. She was starting to get the impression the Rebecca thought she knew better than her. "Well, considering that I am the only mage here, I think that you have no real say in the matter," she said. Rebecca just rolled her eyes. She then walked over to Louise and took her wand. "You have no idea, do you?" she said. "Keep in mind that I am a part of your family, and I won't be taking crap from a Nobel who has never set foot onto a world like this!" Louise could see that Rebecca was one not to be pushed around, but she still felt like she knew better than her. Especially when it came to magic.

Saito on the other hand was starting to realize that Rebecca was speaking from experience. He could see that she was speaking from the heart, that she had a reason to keep Louise from casting her spells in public. "I may not have been here for very long, but I am the only mage here!" Louise yelled. Saito quickly stepped in at this point. He stepped in between the two girls before they could start tearing each other's throats out. "That's enough from both of you!" he shouted.

Louise quickly backed down, but Rebecca just started to ramp up even further. "This doesn't involve you Saito! So stay out of this!" she yelled. Saito stood his ground, hoping that Rebecca would calm down. After all he knew that Louise would get mad she would suddenly cause an explosion. He wasn't entirely sure whether or not the same thing would happen to Rebecca, but he was hoping that it wouldn't. "I am just trying to keep you guys from killing each other," he said.

"That's not the problem!" Rebecca shouted. By now she was on the verge of tears. Everyone could hear her voice as it started to break apart. "You have no idea just how hard it is not to have anywhere to go! Not to have any friends!" she shouted. Finally she then turned away from both Saito and Louise and started to walk away.

It was at this point that they heard another voice call out to them. "Rebecca! Is that you?!" The five of them looked toward the direction of the voice and could see a man who looked to be in his mid 20s or so. He had short brown hair with dark brown eyes. He was a little over six foot and was wearing a graphic tee-shirt with a locomotive on the front of it. Upon see this man Rebecca was immediately taken aback by his appearance. "Andrew? What are you doing here in Japan?" sh asked.

The young man smiled as he started to laugh. "To be honest I wasn't actually expecting to see you here in Akihabara," he said. Rebecca simply clenched her fist. It was obvious to Saito and Louise that Rebecca knew this man personally and that she wasn't fond of him. But there was a reason for this. "Seriously, why are you here?" Rebecca asked.

"What? I can't enjoy myself in Japan with my wife and kids?" Andrew asked sarcastically. This statement shocked Rebecca. However no one else other than Rebecca and Andrew knew why. When Saito asked her who Andrew was she gave a frustrated sigh and told them that Andrew was her cousin from her dad's side of the family. When they heard this both Saito and Maeko were thrown for a loop. They simply looked at each other in shock. This actually infuriated Rebecca as she never wanted to talk about her past.

She turned to Andrew and started to glare at him. She then sighed and rolled her eyes. "Why don't we go somewhere to talk," Andrew said. Almost immediately Maeko jumped in and made a suggestion on where they should go. "I know a prefect place for us to go an eat!" she exclaimed.

"Before we go anywhere we need to cast that spell to allow you to understand Louise and Siesta," Saito said. As soon as he said this he looked over to Rebecca. He knew that she was still a bit angry over this decision. However what happened next was a bit of a shock to him. "Let me cast it then. I don't want an explosion on our hands," she said.

In quick succession she took Louise's wand and started to mouth the incantations of some sort of spell. It was only then that Saito and Louise realized why she had gotten so upset. "Wait! Your a mage?!" Saito exclaimed. Rebecca looked over at him and shook her head. It was obvious that she didn't want to talk about what or who she was. Saito could see from the look on her face that she was very ashamed of the fact that she was a mage.

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A few minutes later Saito and the other made their way through Akihabara to a small Maid Cafe. In fact it was the very place that Maeko had suggested. However for Rebecca she viewed it as an insult to Siesta, who she knew was a real maid. Thankfully Siesta didn't seem to mind. In fact both Louise and Siesta kept looking on with wonder as they walked through Akihabara. For Saito it was simply another Maid Cafe that Maeko had dragged him to during a trip to Akihabara.

Andrew was the only one who seemed to have no feelings what-so-ever about being at the cafe. This was a little odd for Rebecca as she knew that her cousin was a big Otaku when it came to anime. When she asked why he didn't seem to care Andrew looked at her and started to laugh. "It's mainly because my wife cosplayed quite a bit in High School. Mostly against her will though," he said.

Rebecca and Saito looked at each other with confusion. Things were made only more confusing when Andrew commented about the High School itself. Maeko quickly asked what High School Andrew's wife attended and the answer that he gave them shocked them all. "Oh. My wife attended North High. It was the leader of the club she was in that usually forced these costumes on her," he said.

The fact the he had mentioned North High shocked everyone at the table. After all the four of them were going to be attending North High in a few weeks. "In fact this will be the fifth year we've been married," Andrew said. Rebecca suddenly jumped up from her chair. The look on her face suggested that she had no idea that her cousin had been married for five years. For her is was pretty shocking as she had only been in Japan for three years.

"So you were married when that happened?" Rebecca asked. Andrew nodded. The look on his face turned from a cheerful appearance to one of seriousness. It was obvious that he knew something. "My wife was told about by both the Bureau and the S.O.U. seconds after it happened," he said. Saito was shocked to hear the term "S.O.U." used for the second time in a matter of hours. "What exactly is this 'S.O.U.'? I have heard the name before from an Air Force Pilot name Mathew, but I have no idea what it is," he said.

Andrew turned to him and started to chuckle. He then took a deep breath and started to explain what he could. "The 'S.O.U.' is a secret branch of the US Armed Forces that deals with the paranormal. Their full name is the 'Special Operations Unit Paranormal Division' and they work on the same level as a group here in Japan called 'The SOS Brigade'. My wife was a part of this brigade and in turn I was added to the 'S.O.U.'," Andrew said.

Saito turned to Maeko and asked her if she knew about this "SOS Brigade". To everyone's surprise Maeko nodded. "Yeah I think so. I think Sakura talked about it back when I met her," she said. "Though she kept saying it was a High School Club." Andrew nodded and explained that the "SOS Brigade" did start off as a High School Club at North High, but that it grew from there.

Suddenly Andrew got a call on his cellphone. As he looked at the caller id his face changed drastically. When he picked up the phone, asking the person on the other end what was going on. It was only then that Saito noticed the look on Rebecca's face as she looked on her phone. The color seemed to drain from her face. "It looks like I have to go," Andrew said. He then turned to looked at Rebecca and could see that she knew what had happened.

As Andrew left he said one last thing to Rebecca. "Rebecca, just remember, I am here," he said. He then left the cafe, leaving the Saito, Maeko, Louise, and Siesta to wonder what was going on. And when Saito asked Rebecca what just happened, she looked him straight in the eyes and said, "We need to go to Halkeginia."

To be continued...

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 **Author's Note: Well I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Don't worry I won't leave you guys hanging for long, but hopefully I did managed to get you attention.**


	2. Red Like Roses - Part 1

Chapter 2: Red Like Roses – Part 1

 **Author's Note: Well guys here is Chapter 2 of the "Homecoming" series. So if you didn't figure out the reference in Chapter 1's Title it was a reference to the Achievement Hunters and a Minecraft Let's Play they had done nearly a year ago. And Much like the first Chapter, this Chapter is a reference to something as well.**

 **Also I want to address some of the cameos in the first Chapter. This story is set five years after the events of another on of my fan-fics "The Evoultion of Haruhi Suzumiya" so a handful of Characters from that story are transferred over. However none of the main characters (Like Haruhi and Mikuru) are directly named. Many of these cameos are of fan made characters like Andrew White, Mathew Baker, and Kano.**

 **Anyway with that out of the way let's get the ball rolling.**

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"We have get go to Halkeginia," Rebecca said. Everyone was shocked by this statement, but as they all got a good look at her face they could tell that she was serious. Saito turned to Louise. He knew that the only reason Rebecca would have said this would be because it involved her. He asked her if she could open a World Door back to Halkeginia. It took a second for Louise to answer but she eventually nodded her head.

"It might be a bit difficult, but I can do it," she said. She then turned to Rebecca and asked her why she was so determined to go to Halkeginia. Everyone looked toward her, wondering what she would say. The answer they got was something they weren't expecting. "It's the 501st. They've gone missing," she said. Louise was a bit confused by this but both Saito and Maeko were now just as determined to go to Halkeginia.

"What's the 501st?" Louise asked. Saito, Maeko, and Rebecca all looked at each other. Rebecca then took a deep breath. She started to explain that the 501st was a US Military Division that her godfather was a part of. She then explained that she was very close to the division and that it was her godfather that helped her get to Japan in the first place.

As soon as Louise heard this she stood straight up and grabbed Rebecca by the arm. Everyone could see just from the look in her eyes that she was now just as determined as Rebecca. She turned to Saito and told him to meet her outside the cafe. It was obvious that she was going to use the World Door spell.

Satio then turned to Rebecca and asked how she knew that the 501st would be on Halkeginia. Rebecca shrugged and simply said that it was a hunch. Satio and Maeko looked at her with a bit of skepticism. They weren't sure whether or not she actually felt like the 501st was in Halkenginia or if she just wanted to go to Halkenginia to see the rest of Louise's family. None the less they knew that it was important to head to Halkenginia to help Siesta get home.

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Once everyone was outside Louise started saying the incantations to the World Door spell. Everyone was a little nervous, but none more so than Rebecca. This was her first time going to Halkenginia and she had no idea what to expect. All she knew was that part of her family had come from that world and that her side of the family was disowned by the rest of them.

Then, when the portal to Halkenginia opened Rebecca's nervousness started to fade away. She looked over to Saito who gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry," he said. "We are right here with you." As soon as he said that Saito then turned to Louise and took her by the hand. Rebecca watched as the two of them stepped through the portal. They were soon followed by Maeko who went screaming past Rebecca while pulling Siesta by the arm. "Well... Here goes nothing," she said as she walked toward the portal.

Once she stepped through the other side she was met with a complete sense of just where her family had come from. They were miles from the nearest city, but they could clearly see a large castle in the distance. "It looks like we've got a long way to go to the capital," Saito said. Rebecca and Maeko lloked toward the direction of the castle. The two of them knew that that was the place they were going. The only problem was that they had no idea why they were going to the capital or even where they were.

It wasn't until Saito and Louise started to walk down the path that they were on that Rebecca got this overwhelming feeling that they knew someone over there. "So who is at the capital?" she asked. Louise turned to Rebecca then back toward the direction of the castle. "We are going to see if the princess can help us," she said. Rebecca looked over to Saito. She was a little skeptical that Louise knew this "princess".

However that changed as they saw a horse and carriage coming towards them. "What's that?" Maeko asked. Everyone watched as the carriage came closer and closer. As it approached them Saito and Louise could see a familiar face sitting atop the carriage. "Agnès! Over here!" Louise shouted.

Rebecca and Maeko looked at each other in disbelief as the person who was driving the carriage stopped in front of them. She had short orangish blond hair and piercing yellow eyes. She had a rapier at her side as well as a musket on her back. Rebecca turned to Saito and asked her who this person was. "Oh... Right. This Agnès. She is the captain of the Royal Guard," Saito said. Rebecca looked at Agnès. She could clearly tell that she was a soldier of some kind, but to be a captain of something seemed to be a bit far fetched.

Meanwhile Agnès was taking a good look at the group that Saito and Louise were with. She could see that both Rebecca and Maeko were not from Halkenginia. In fact she knew that the two of them had come from the same world as Saito. "I am assuming that these two are friends of yours?" she asked. Saito nodded and explained to her that they needed to see the "princess".

It was at this point that Rebecca spoke up. "It has to do with my family!" she said. "A Military Division that my godfather is a part of has disappeared." Agnès looked at Rebecca skeptically. "And what makes you think that they are here?" she asked. Rebecca started to back down a little. The look in Agnès's eyes made Rebecca a little scared. However Louise stepped in and helped Rebecca. "Please. You have to take us to see the princess," she said.

Agnès turned back to the carriage and started to climb back into the front seat. "That's why I was sent out here," she said. Louise and Saito were shocked. They looked at each other, not sure what they should say. "Her Highness has been aware that the two of you left for your world, but she now requires you assistance," Agnès added. Upon hearing this statement the two of them realized that something was going on. After all it had only been a few weeks since they had left for Japan. So the fact that the "princess" needed their help was very worrying.

As they all climbed into the carriage Saito asked Agnès about what was going on. The look on Agnès's face told Saito that whatever had happened had a major impact on Tristain. "It's the Albion Empire," she said. "They seem to be gathering their strength to fight another war." Saito sighed then looked toward the direction of the castle. He knew that Tristain didn't have the strength to fight another war with Albion. In fact he knew that the only way that Tristain would stand a chance would to have him fight alongside them.

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As Saito and the other started to enter the capital city Maeko and Rebecca quickly noticed just how many people where on the streets. Many of them paid no mind to Saito, however the ones that noticed him immediately began to welcome him back. Many of them even called Saito "The Hero of Tristain".

As they entered the castle Rebecca started to get this overwhelming feeling that Saito was a bit more well known than he was letting on. In fact this was more evident when they actually met the "princess". Upon walking into the throne room both Maeko and Rebecca could see a young girl waiting for them. She had short purple hair with light blue eyes and she was dressed a long and beautiful dress. It was obvious that she was the so called "princess" but it was what she did when she saw Saito that shocked Rebecca.

"Saito! You're here!" she shouted. She then ran up to him and embraced him. This actually embarrassed Saito just a bit as he could see that Rebecca was glaring at him. "I am so glad to see you!" the girl said. She then let go of Saito and said hello to Louise. Only then did Rebecca make herself known to everyone in the room. "Not to interrupt your little reunion but what the hell is going on here?" she said.

The "princess" turned to Rebecca and was shocked to see her. "Oh, my apologizes. I wasn't aware that you were there," she said. Rebecca clenched her fist and gave a frustrated sigh. "You nobles are all the same," she sighed. Rebecca's statement actually surprised the "princess" as she could tell that she was not from Halkenginia, so the fact that she knew about the nobility was a bit of a shock. However she also knew that Saito had been gone for a few week so she figured that he was able to tell her about the nobility.

"So I am guessing that you are one of Saito's friends. My name is Henrietta de Tristain," the girl said. "I am the queen of Tristain." Rebecca and Maeko whipped their heads toward Saito with Rebecca grabbing him by the collar. As she started to shake him she noticed the runes on his left hand. She then let him go and turned away from him.

Everyone could feel the tension as neither Rebecca or Saito said a word to one another. Even Henrietta could tell that something was amiss. Eventually Maeko decided to introduce herself to both Henrietta and Agnès. "Well... My name is Maeko Sasaki," she said. Henrietta looked over and smiled. "It is a pleasure to meet you," she said. She then turned to Rebecca, who was still a bit miffed at Saito. She eventually asked for her name and Rebecca rolled her eyes as she turned to face her.

"My name is Rebecca White. I am a member of the Vallière family," she said. Rebecca knew full well what this statement would do and the response she got was just what she expected. She watched Henrietta's face change drastically as she began to realize that there was more to Saito's world than she knew. She could see that even Agnès was shocked by the statement.

"Then does that mean that you are a mage?" Henrietta asked. Rebecca nodded her head. She explained that she learned that she was a mage only three year earlier. This came as a shock to both Saito and Maeko as it had been three years since they had met. "So you were a mage when we first met you?" Saito asked. Rebecca turned to Saito and started to shoot daggers at him. She then sighed and nodded. "Yeah... I didn't want to talk to you guys about it because I thought you would be scared of me," she said.

Saito and Maeko looked at each other, knowing full well that she was partially right. It wasn't the fact that they would have been scared of her. Instead they figured that if she would have said something when they first met her they wouldn't have believed her. It was essentially a no win situation, even Rebecca knew this.

After a brief silence Henrietta turned to Saito and asked him if Agnès had told him what was going on. Saito nodded, but he then turned to Rebecca. He knew that the 501st was still missing and that if they were on Halkeginia that Henrietta would be able to find them. However he knew that the 501st would the only other group that would be capable of helping Tristain.

It was at this point that one of Henrietta's advisors walked into the throne room. "Your highness. I am sorry to interrupt but he is here," he said. Immediately Henrietta nodded and told the advisor to let them in. She then turned to Saito and could see that he was fairly confused. "I am sorry Saito, but I recently ran into some soldiers. One of them is a Staff Sergeant," she said.

This immediately caught Saito and Rebecca's attention for the same reason. For one the rank of Staff Sergeant wasn't a rank that was used in Tristain. Then there was the fact that Rebecca's godfather was a Staff Sergeant within the 501st. It made the two wonder whether or not Henrietta had already run into the 501st or somehow she had met a soldier from the US Armed Forces with the same rank.

Their questions were answered when the door to the throne room opened and two US soldiers walked in. One of them had short dark brown hair and light brown eye while the other one had light blond hair and deep blue eyes. "David!" Rebecca shouted. She then ran up to one of the soldiers and hugged him.

This actually took the soldier with the dark brown hair off guard. "Rebecca? What the hell are you doing here? How did you get here?" the soldier asked. The other soldier with the light blond hair started to laugh as he watched his partner get flustered over Rebecca. "Well Rhino, looks like I won," he said.

It was then that Henrietta started to walk up to the two soldiers and asked them if they knew Rebecca. The soldier that Rebecca was embracing nodded. "Yeah, Rebecca is my goddaughter, or rather my dad's goddaughter. Though I am just as responsible for her as my dad is," he said. He then looked up to see both Saito and Maeko. He could see that the two of them were fairly surprised to him as he was to see them.

"Well I guess Rebecca was right after all," Saito said. "David was here in Halkeginia." Henrietta looked back toward Saito. She was a bit surprised that he knew the soldier as well. David on the other hand was more surprised that Saito knew the world that they were on. It was then that he noticed Louise and Siesta who were standing fairly close to Saito. Louise started to walk up to David and introduced herself to him. "Hello, my name is Louise de La Vallière. It is a pleasure to meet you," she said.

David smiled and nodded. "It's nice to meet you. My name is David Mathew Thompson," he said. It was then that the other soldier started to introduce himself as well as "correct" David. "Don't you mean David 'Rhino' Thompson? Anyway my name is Micheal Glover. It's nice to meet you," he said. Rebecca and David rolled their eyes at this statement.

Meanwhile Henrietta turned to Saito and began to ask why Rebecca was looking for them. Saito shrugged and directed the question to Rebecca. She looked around nervously as she began to answer. "I go a text from my dad that the 501st had gone missing and I just had a feeling that it had to be tied to our family in some way," she said. Everyone was a little confused by this statement, but Louise quickly realized what Rebecca meant by it. So when David asked what she meant by this Lousie was one of the few people that was able to answer.

"It's because she and I are part of the Vallière family," she said. Rebecca nodded, explaining that when she met Louise she knew that her past would start to catch up to her. David looked over to Saito and could see that even he was starting to agree with both Louise and Rebecca. "Then I guess that would mean that this was set in motion a year earlier," he said. David and Rebecca were a little confused by this and asked what he meant by it. Saito looked over to Louise and the two of them explained that Saito became Louise's familiar a year earlier.

This didn't come as a surprise to Rebecca as she one of the few people who knew how hard it was to travel between Halkeginia and Earth. After all she was the first member of her family since her great grandmother to return to Tristain. In fact her family knew very little about the world they came from. Louise was the first member of the Vallière to travel Earth in more than 90 years.

By now it was becoming apparent that things were getting a little off track. Saito turned to David and asked him what he was doing here. Realizing that there was a reason for him and Micheal being here he turned to Henrietta and tried to get her attention. "Sorry to interrupt but I need to talk to you about something," he said. Henrietta looked back to David and began to blush out of embarrassment. She then apologized to him and asked if there was anything to report.

It was obvious to Saito and the others that David and Micheal had been on Halkeginia for a lot longer than anyone had realized. After all the fact that Henrietta was asking for a report meant that David was considered to be a soldier for the Tristain Royal Army. However in Saito's mind this was a good thing as he knew that the 501st would be strong enough to protect Tristain. It was only when David began to give his report that they realize there was a lot more than they were expecting.

"Well, so far we have yet to find the girl that saved us, but we now have some idea of where she is from," David said. This was a little confusing but it was when David pulled out a red armband with Japanese writing on it. It was pretty evident whatever happened it had something to do with the link between the two worlds. "Do we know what those men were at all yet?" Agnès asked. David shook his head. He then explained that he was still trying to figure out what the girl that they met was.

It was at this point That Maeko noticed the writing on the armband. She asked if she could get a closer look at the armband as she seemed to recognized one of the characters on it. David looked down at the armband then handed over to Maeko. As soon as he handed the armband Maeko had both Saito and Rebecca over her shoulder. It was then that the three of them could see what was written on the armband.

It took a few seconds before anyone said anything. Eventually David asked Maeko what was written on the armband. All she did was look up at him and said, "Whoever you guy met went to North High." It was then that they heard someone laughing. They could clearly hear that it was a girls voice as it sounded very feminine.

"I am surprised you know about the old brigade," the voice said. Everyone started to look around to find out where the voice was coming from. It wasn't until they heard one of the windows open then close that they saw a young woman in her early 20s climbing through and entering the throne room. She was wearing a high school uniform and they could see that she had a katana at her side.

It was at this point that the woman looked over at Maeko. She then walked over to her and took the armband from her. "I don't think that our Brigade Leader would be happy if she saw you with that," she said. She then gave a playful yet somewhat sarcastic smile as she walked over to Rebecca. She took one look at her and then turned her attention to Saito and Louise. It was obvious to everyone that she was not a normal person. In fact the uniform alone was proof that she was from another era.

In fact the uniform she was wearing was from North High. It was fairly torn up, and there was even quite a bit of dried blood on her uniform as well. It was still from a few years ago, but it already looked as if the uniform was decades old. Not only that but the woman appeared to be a lot more mature than she actually was. She was only in her early 20s but the aura she gave made it seem like she was much older than she really was.

"So I am assuming that you were talking about me, right?" the woman asked. David nodded. He carefully kept an eye on the woman as she walked around the throne room. Meanwhile Saito could see that the woman had no ill intentions towards Henrietta. However he could also see that the woman was just as out of place as he was. This was a little odd to him as she was not being treated as if she were an enemy.

As the woman walked around the throne room she turned to Rebecca and began to smile. "If I am not mistaken your last name is the same as a man I know by the name of Andrew," she said. Immediately Rebecca became a little annoyed by this as she rolled her eyes. "Yeah... Andrew is my cousin," she said. The woman started to quietly chuckle as soon as she heard this. It was then that the woman mentioned something that sent chills down Rebecca's spine. "Well then, just remember one thing. I am here," she said.

Everyone could see that this one phrase seemed to catch Rebecca off guard. Even Saito could see that somehow Rebecca wasn't too sure how to take it. It was rather odd as Rebecca's cousin, Andrew White, had said the same thing just before they had left. It was if she knew just what he had said. In fact the way she went about saying it felt as if there was a story behind the phrase.

Meanwhile Louise and Siesta started to notice that Henrietta was starting to get a little nervous. They didn't know whether or not this was because of the woman that was in the throne room or if it was because of something else. All they knew was that there was something that was making her worry. It wasn't until David started to speak up that things started to become a little more clear. "So who are you and why are you here?" David asked.

The woman turned to face David, placing her hand on her katana. She gave a faint smile as she shook her head. "I don't need to tell you my name just yet," she said. This statement caused David to put his hand on his sidearm. Upon seeing this the woman began to laugh. "You really think that shooting me is going to do anything. You saw what they did to me right?" the woman said. She then lifted up her shirt and revealed a large scar on her stomach.

Everyone was shocked as the scar was both on the front and the back of this woman's body. It was as if she was impaled by something. "If you know anything about us Protectors then you would know that we can be killed so easily. If anything we are almost on the same level as the very men you guys faced just days ago," she said. She then turned to Rebecca and Maeko. She could tell that the two of them were still fairly new to the world that they were stepping foot into. There was little doubt in her mind that these two would soon have to deal with situations that would change their lives.

She then turned to Saito and Louise. As she took a good look at them she couldn't help but smile. She could tell that the two of them had been through quite a bit already. She could see just how battle-harden Saito was and how he and Louise were determined to protect Henrietta. "So I am assuming that you are the true hero of Tristain, correct?" she asked. Everyone turned to look at Saito and waited for his response. Saito looked around as he was not sure how to response to the question. Finally he nodded his head and explained that he was in fact the hero of Tristain.

This was enough for the woman to start smiling. She then turned to Henrietta and told her Saito wouldn't be alone as he fought against the Albion Empire. She then started to make her way toward the window once again. As she started to open it Saito asked why she wouldn't go through the door like a normal person. The woman looked over to him and smiled. "Normal? The SOS Brigade is never normal. You'll understand when you meet my old Brigade Leader," she said. She then jumped from the window and disappeared.

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As the sun started to set on the Halkeginian continent Saito and the others started to realize that they need to get back home. They all knew that if they were gone for too long people would start to worry. It was at this point that Henrietta started to walk up to Saito while handing him a blade. Saito was a bit surprised by this. He eventually asked her what the sword was for. Henrietta smiled and said, "This is a gift for all you have done for us."

As Saito took the blade there was a bright flash coming from the runes from his left hand. As it started to dim Rebecca could see that Saito's stance was very similar to a true warrior's stance. Saito turned to Henrietta and smiled. "Thank you princess," he said. He then turned to Louise and told her to open the World Door back home.

As this was happening David walked up to the group. He turned to Rebecca and told her to send a message to "Command". When she asked about the message the response she got was a little odd. "Just tell them that the west has fallen," he said. He then turned to Saito and told him to take care of Rebecca. After that he left the throne room, leaving everyone to wonder what was going on.

It was at this point that Louise opened the World Door back to Earth. She turned to Henrietta and told her that they would be back. She knew full well that they couldn't leave her like this. She knew that she and Saito would have to come back in the near future to help fight against the Albion Empire.

As they were about to step through the door they heard another voice call out to them. "Saito! Wait!" the voice said. As they turned to see who it was they could Siesta running toward them with a suitcase. There was only one response from Rebecca. "Oh god," she sighed. They all watched as Siesta struggled ti make her way toward them. When they asked what she was doing she smiled and told them that she would be coming with them.

Everyone looked at each other in disbelief. It was already hard enough for Louise to get used to everyday life in a modern world. They weren't sure just how Siesta would cope with the drastic changes to Halkeginian life if she were to go through. Not only that but there was also someone else on Saito and Louise's mind that would suddenly find it hard without her.

"Are you sure you want to come with us? What about Tiffa?" Saito asked. As soon as he asked this they could see just from the look on both Siesta's and Henrietta's faces that something had happened. When he asked what was going on he wasw told that Tiffa had disappeared a few days ago. "It was around the same time that the Albion Empire started to grow in strength," Agnès said. Saito could tell that everyone was worried, but he knew that there was another explanation. He told them that he would keep an eye out for Tiffa once they went back to Japan.

After he said that he turned to Louise and the two agreed that there was a lot more that they needed to do now than ever. They then walked through the portal and back into Japan. They could see that the sun was just barely over the horizon, but thankfully they were already in Saito's neighborhood. However there was already a problem. They knew that Siesta was going to need a place to stay. Unfortunately Saito didn't have any room at his place and there was no way that they could afford a hotel room for her.

Suddenly a voice started to speak up. "Why don't ya let her stay an that Maeko girl's place, partner," the voice said. Everyone started to look around except for Saito and Louise. They looked toward the sword at Saito's side. "I'm not sure about that Derf. Maeko is a little strange to begin with," Saito said. It was at this point that Rebecca looked over to Saito and could that the sword was talking. She then turned to Maeko and nudged her just a little bit, as she tried to get her to notice the sword.

When she did Maeko was immediately excited. "No way! The sword talks!? That's so cool!" she exclaimed. This cause nearly everyone to roll their eyes. "See what I mean?" Saito said. Saito then turned to Siesta and asked her if she was okay with staying with her. Siesta nodded and explained that as long as she wasn't far from Saito that she would be fine. Maeko laugh and told her that she and Saito were next door neighbors. With this information in mind Siesta and Maeko agreed that they would stay together for the time being.

As Maeko and Siesta left Saito turned to Rebecca. He could see that she was still taking the fact that David was now in a whole other world with no way to get back rather hard. He put his hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, we'll get them back home," he said. Rebecca smiled and turned to Louise. She then thanked her for let her go to Halkeginia. "Maybe if we have time we can introduce you to my family," Louise said. This made Rebecca laugh just a little bit. She knew that it was going to be hard facing the rest of the Vallière family, but she also knew that she could run from her family's past.

She then said goodbye to both Saito and Louise and made her way back to her house. Once she was out of sight Louise and Saito decided to head back home as well. As they walked down the street they passed a shire that had been built five years earlier. When Louise asked about it Saito explained that it was built in honor of a young girl who was murdered in cold blood. This shocked Louise as she had never heard of anyone in Saito's world being killed in such a manner.

Saito could see that she was very interested in the shrine and asked her if she wanted to pay her respects. It didn't take long for Louise to answer, as she nodded her head. The two of them then walked into the shrine and started to pray for the girl. As they did so Louise then noticed the picture of the girl sitting the middle of the shrine. Once she saw it she could feel her heart skip a beat.

Saito quickly noticed that Louise was a little frighten as she started to back away from the middle of the shrine. When he asked what was wrong she simply pointed to the picture in the middle of shrine. Saito looked over at the picture and realized why Louise was so scared. "I don't believe it," he said.

To be continued...

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 **Author's Note: Thank you guys for reading chapter 2 of this series. There are a lot of mysteries surrounding this world, with many of them stemming from another fan-fic on my profile called "The Evolution of Haruhi Suzumiya". Many of the characters from that fan-fic make various cameo appearance and there are a handful of references to the Haruhi Universe. This is because, like I have said before, this is set in that universe. This means that there are going to be quite a few references scattered here and there.**

 **Until Next Time.**


	3. Red Like Roses - Part 2

Chapter 3: Red Like Roses – Part 2

 **Author's Note: Hey guys, I hope you haven't been waiting long. We are now on chapter 3 of the "Homecoming" Series. Naturally both this chapter and the last chapter are both references to the series RWBY (pronounced Ruby). Also the last chapter had a lot of references to the later half of "The Evolution of Haruhi Suzumiya" which I by this point is starting to take shape. Many of these chapters were written back in March and April of 2017 so I was still planning quite a bit. However by now "The Evolution of Haruhi Suzumiya" as well as "Flying High" (another one of my fan-fics) are back on track.**

 **With that said this is one of the few chapter that will have a ton of references to "The Evolution of Haruhi Suzumiya" as this is the first chapter to deal heavily with the SOS Brigade and North High. This is also the first time that a major plot within that story is directly referenced as I have kept the two stories separate up until now. Though none of the main Haruhi Cast is in play they are referenced quite a bit.**

 **With that out of the way, let's get started.**

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As Louise and Saito took a good look at the picture the two of them couldn't believe what they were seeing. In the picture was a group of North High students one of which was the very woman they had just met on Tristain. The reason that this girl stood out was because she was the one who was killed five year earlier. It was obvious that this girl had somehow survived her brush with death. In fact there was enough to suggest that the girl in the picture was very close with everyone in the photograph.

"It's hard to imagine that that very picture was taken just before the summer trip," a voice said from behind. Saito and Louise jumped backwards and faced whoever it was that was behind them. To their surprise it was Mathew Baker. He had been standing behind the two of them for only a minute but already he had started to notice that the two were focused on the girl in the picture.

"Jeez, don't scare us like that," Saito said. Mathew laughed and suggested that they go outside. Saito and Louise looked at each other for a brief moment before they nodded in agreement. They then stepped out of the shrine and decided to ask Mathew what he knew of the photograph. Mathew looked up toward the skies and then asked them one question. "Let me ask you this, why did you guys react like that when you saw Kano?" he said.

Saito and Louise looked around nervously as they had no idea how to answer him. Thankfully they didn't have to answer him as he could see by the look on their faces what had happened. "The girl that the shrine is for was named Kano. She was a good friend to many people of at North High, especially those within a club called the SOS Brigade," he said. Mathew then explained that just after the SOS Brigade had returned from a trip to the United States she was killed by something called a Data Lifeform.

Suddenly the three of them heard another voice as it chimed in. "I wouldn't say killed so much as removed," the voice said. Mathew was suddenly taken aback as he looked up to see the young woman that both Saito and Louise had met earlier. She was standing atop one of the streetlights wither feet planted firmly on the smallest part of it. Even Saito and Louise were shocked to see her as she had just been in Halkeginia just a few hours ago. But it was Mathew's reaction that made both Saito and Louise realize that this woman was someone close to him.

"Kano? Is that you?" he asked. The look on his face suggested that he didn't really know what to say. However the woman knew exactly what to say as she began to laugh. She then jumped down from the streetlight and started to walk toward Mathew. "Who else would it be?" she asked in a playful manner. This was enough to get through to Mathew who she was. Within a matter of seconds he began to smile as the woman in front of him held out her hand.

Eventually Mathew took her hand the two of them embraced. "Kano! It really is you! But how?" he asked. Kano, who had an extremely close relationship with Mathew, sighed and simply said that it was an a long story. She then turned to Saito and Louise who were just dumbfounded by the whole thing. The look on her face quickly turned from fairly happy to one of complete seriousness.

"Listen you two to what I have to say," she said. Everyone could tell that there was something going, but only Mathew seemed to know what it was. His face started to go pale white as Kano began to explain why she was here. "Now I know that Henrietta has told you that the Albion Empire has started to regain its strength but that's just the tip of the iceberg," she said. She then turned to the shrine and shook her head.

"There is a group working with what is left of the Rebellion called the Heavenly Canopy and they have been helping rebuild the entire military of the Albion Empire," she said. It was at this point she turned to Mathew. It was pretty obvious that she and Mathew had dealt with this "Heavenly Canopy" group before. In fact both Louise and Saito could see that Mathew was visibly angry. Kano could also see this and started to roll her eyes. "Naturally Kazuki is still out there as well, but I don't think he is involved with the Heavenly Canopy," she said.

She then turned back to Saito and Louise. "I want you two to head over to a place called Cafe Dream on July 7th of this year. Once there you will meet someone who will help you quite a bit when you start to deal with the Heavenly Canopy," she said. Kano then turned to Mathew and told him to take care of both Saito and Louise. As she started to walk away Mathew asked her where she was going. Kano simply glanced back at him and said that she would return on July 7th.

Shortly after their run in with Kano, Saito and Louise tried to make sense of the whole event. What did she mean by all of that? Who or what was the "Heavenly Canopy" and what did it have to do with the Albion Empire? All of these questions were running through their heads as they started to fall asleep.

00000

The following morning the two of them were awakened by the smell of cooked food. However they could tell that it wasn't the usual food that Saito's mother had made for them before. Instead it was the smell of a traditional morning dish from Tristain. At first this was a little confusing for Saito and Louise. For a brief second the two of them had thought that they had gone back to Tristain. But once they realized that they were in fact in Japan the mystery only deepen.

It wasn't until they heard Saito's Mother laughing along with Maeko that they realize what was going on. The two of them shot up from their sleep and looked at the clock. They could see that it was already past ten in the morning, which was a bit of a surprise to them. As Saito started to get out of his bed he then noticed that Louise had covered herself up to her neck.

This was because Louise's nightgown was made from a sheer fabric. This meant that you could see through the nightgown and see her skin. What's more because Louise didn't own a bra at this point. Because of this she was very embarrassed whenever she and Saito had to get into the same bed. It was because of this Saito often slept on the floor on an air mattress while Louise slept on his bed.

"I'll go ahead and leave the room. Okay?" Saito said. He was fully expecting Louise to agree and let him leave the room. However to his surprise she shook her head and told him he could stay. When he asked for her reasoning on this the answer he got was a little surprising. "Well... If we are going to start a family, we're going to have to see our bodies sooner or later," she said. Saito could hear just from the tone of her voice that she was pretty embarrassed. But as he looked into her eyes he could see that she was being honest with herself and that she really did want to start a family.

At first Saito wasn't sure whether or not he should turn around or whether he should stay where he was. It wasn't until Louise started to get out of the bed that he decided to turn around. As soon as he did so Louise asked why he had turned around. Saito was a bit confused by this but he eventually turned back around to face her. Once he got a good look at her he started to blush quite a bit.

Louise saw this and started to blush as well. She knew that in the back of Saito's mind that he was probably thinking some weird thoughts about her. Though in her mind this wasn't a bad thing, in fact it made her happy to know that Saito saw her as a woman. She knew she still looked like a young child, but she knew that the way you looked wasn't everything.

As soon as she started to get undressed Louise started to notice that Saito was trying to keep his gaze away from her chest. It wasn't until she took a closer look at him that she realized why. To her surprise Saito was trying to hide the fact that had a gotten "excited". As a result she could help but turn a deep shade of red. However she started to make her way toward Saito. She then knelt down in front of him, putting her face rather close to his crotch.

This made Saito rather nervous as he wasn't really sure what Louise was trying to do. It wasn't until she place her hand on his crotch that he started to freak out. "W-W-What are you doing?" he asked. Louise's face was deep red as she started to pull his pants off. Thankfully there was a knock on the door that interrupted them.

"Are you guys awake yet or what?" Maeko asked. Louise and Saito both answered rather nervously. Once they did they heard Maeko laugh a little bit as she told them that their food was ready. After a brief pause Saito and Louise looked at each other. They didn't say a word but they were thinking the same thing.

After the two of them got dressed they headed downstairs and could see that not only was Maeko there but Siesta as well. It was all a bit jarring as they had just run into Kano the previous night. They even thought that they were in some sort of dream as they soon realized that Siesta was speaking broken Japanese. It was all rather odd and yet it only got weirder as the two of heard a knock on the door.

As Saito went to open it he heard Rebecca's voice through the door. It was pretty clear that she was talking with someone in the Halkeginian language. Even though he could hear Rebecca speaking in Halkeginian he couldn't hear the other person talking. For awhile he simply thought that she was talking to herself. It wasn't until he opened the front door that he realized what was really going on.

As he opened the door he could see that Rebecca was with a young girl with long blond hair and large breast. "Tiffa!? What are you doing here?" he asked. Rebecca gave a frustrated sigh and started to explain to Saito that she had found her wandering the streets as she headed back to her house. Saito looked over to Tiffa and suggested that the two of them come inside. They quickly took him up on the offer and the three of them headed into the living room.

Once they entered the living everyone's attention drew down on the young girl with the long blond hair. Each of them had a different reaction but the general consensus was one of complete shock. However it was Maeko's reaction that took the cake. Her first thing was to point out the girls large breasts. "Whoa! What's with those tits?! Are they even real?" she said.

This of course caused Rebecca and Saito to roll their eyes. It was then that they saw the shocked expressions on both Siesta's and Louise's face. Rebecca turned to Saito and asked him what was going on. He sighed and asked her if she had gotten the girl's name. When Rebecca shook her head Saito began to explain that the girl was an old friend of theirs from Halkeginia. The girl then quickly turned to Rebecca and started to apologize. "I am terribly sorry. My name is Tiffania Westwood," she said.

Rebecca looked over at Saito and gave him a quizzical look. She a bit curious on just how many people Saito had met of become friends with. She knew that he had been gone for just over a year, but the fact that he had done so much during that time was unbelievable. The fact that he had become a war hero on that world was still a shock to her and now she was learning that he had more friends than he had in Japan.

Meanwhile Saito could see that Tiffania was a little on edge. It was as if she was extremely worried about something coming after her. He figured it was the fact that she was a Half-Elf and that she was worried about Rebecca and Maeko hating her. He placed his hand on her shoulder and told her that it was going to be okay. However her face didn't change. In fact she still looked worried as she asked him if he would be able to protect her.

Saito was a bit confused by this but Rebecca explained to him what she was trying to say. "When I found her she was being attacked by some weird freak who had a blade for an arm," she said. She then explained that the two of them barely got away from the man before coming here. She turned to Saito and asked him if there were people back on Halkeginia that wanted to kill Tiffania. She was surprised to hear that Tiffania was a major target during the Albion Rebellion. She then learned that Tiffania was the last surviving member of the Albion Royal Family and that she and Louise were both Void Mages.

"So she is being targeted, huh?" Maeko asked. Saito and Rebecca both nodded. Saito then turned to Tiffania and asked her if she would be willing to stay with him for awhile. Louise then added that the two of them would be able to protect her from whoever was trying to kill her. It was at this point that Rebecca interrupted. "I don't think you guys understand what you're going up against. This guy wasn't human. That blade of his was made of light," she said.

It was then that Saito remembered something that Kano had said to him the previous night. He turned to Louise and the two of them realized that the person that was trying to kill Tiffania was part of the Heavenly Canopy. Saito turned to Tiffania and asked her if the man said anything about the Heavenly Canopy. This confused her just a little bit but she then told him that the man did say something about a "reunion".

This confused them as they had on idea what this "reunion" entailed. It wasn't until they thought about it that they realized something. "Hey Saito, If Tiffania didn't come here using the same spell that Louise used doesn't that mean that Earth and Halkeginia are connected in some way?" Rebecca asked. Saito nodded and said that he had remembered hearing about that very connection when he was on Tristain. Unfortunately he was unable to remember where he had heard it or what that connection was.

As everyone tried to piece together what the man was trying to say, Maeko noticed something about Tiffania. "Hey, why are you still wearing that hat inside? Don't you think it would be more comfortable to take it off?" she asked. This also caught Rebecca's attention as she had not seen Tiffania take off the hat while they were together. In fact she agreed wholeheartedly with Maeko when she said that wearing a hat inside was a little weird.

Suddenly Maeko went over to Tiffania and pulled her hat off her head. It was then that her elf ears were in full view of everyone. Tiffania immediately hid her face in fear. She was fully expecting everyone but Saito, Louise, and Siesta to hate her. To her surprise she hear Maeko say something she wasn't expecting. "Whoa! No way! Your an elf? That's so cool!" she said.

She then looked up to see the sparkle in Maeko's eyes. She then turned to Saito and asked him why she wasn't scared of her. "Why would we be scared of you?" Rebecca asked. "Your an elf, so what?" Tiffania was shocked to hear this statement from Rebecca. However it wasn't until Saito and Louise explained that elves were both feared and hated in Halkeginia that Maeko and Rebecca realized why Tiffania was scared of them.

"Why are people scared of elves on your world?" Maeko asked. It was a decent question as by now elves, at least in Tristain, were becoming a more common sight. It was in other countries like Germania and Gallia that the elven population was feared. "We are often seen as barbaric and uncivilized. There are times where we are hunted down and killed like animals just because we are elves," Tiffania said.

Rebecca and Maeko were both confused and infuriated by this. "That makes no sense. Here elves are portrayed as members of nobility and high society. Why would you be portrayed as barbarians?" Rebecca said. Tiffania shrugged and said that she assumed that it was because of how most elves tended to live. She then turned to Saito and asked him why elves were seen so differently on his world. "I guess it's because of what we call pop culture. Over here there is no such thing as elves and half-elves so people tend to have a natural curiosity about that kind of world," he said. He then turned to Rebecca and began to smile. The two of them knew that Tiffania would be welcomed by anyone here on this world.

00000

Eventually Rebecca, Maeko, and Siesta had to leave. They said goodbye to Tiffania and said that she was always welcomed to say with one of them. Once they had left the house Saito and Louise suggested that they take Tiffania on a trip around the area. Tiffania was a little worried by this, but after realizing that people were going to treat her well that she agreed to go with them.

As they left the house Saito quickly noticed someone who was watching them. It was pretty obvious that this person was waiting for them to leave the house for a very long time. He watched as they started to follow them. It became apparent that this was the person that was after Tiffania. He quickly made Louise aware that the man who was after Tiffania was following them.

Louise glanced back at the man and could see that he did in fact had a murderous look in his eyes. Once they turned to face him he stopped in his tracks. The look on his face changed drastically as the murderous look was made even more present. "Well, well, well. Looks like someone thinks they can take me on," the man said.

Saito placed his hand on his sword and prepared for a fight. In turn the man started to open up his arms and turned them into blades of light. This shocked both Saito and Louise, but they stood their ground. They were not about to let this man try and kill Tiffania. "This will be interesting," the man said. He then disappeared from sight. He then appeared behind Saito and kicked him clear across the street.

The man then turned to Louise. He was about attack her when Saito charged back at him. The man quickly countered Saito's attack as he once again kicked him a good 50 feet. Saito rebounded and once again charged at the man. He managed to land what seemed like a decisive blow as Derfflinger sliced off one of the man's arms. "You're finished," Saito proclaimed.

The man looked over to where his arm was and started to laugh. "It's only a scratch," he said.

"A scratch?! Your entire arm is gone!" Saito said. He then watched in disbelief as the man laugh and regrew his arm. It was as if the man was capable of almost anything. In fact Saito soon realized that the man wasn't even using all of his strength against him. He began to realize that Rebecca was right and this man wasn't even human.

"Now... It's about time I got rid of you, you little worm," the man said. He then charged at Saito and was about to impale Saito. Suddenly, and without warning there was bright flash. As Saito's vision returned he could see that the blade was mere inches from his chest. However it was already dripping with blood. As he looked up he could see that Kano had stepped in and what seemed to him sacrificed her life to save his. It was only when she started to talk that everyone realized that she was completely fine.

"I'm a little surprised that you've managed to last this long against a Data Lifeform," she said. "But now it's my turn." She then proceeded to pull the blade out of her chest and clearly snap it in two. She then pulled out her katana and prepared to fight the man in front of them. It was then that Saito and the other noticed the gaping hole in Kano's chest. They watched as the wound started to heal at a rapid rate. Soon it was as if she had never been impaled.

As Kano prepared to make her move the man lunged at her. Kano quickly dodged the attack and swiped her blade at the man. She managed to get a glancing blow on the man as he quickly turned around and lunged at her for a second time. Kano once again dodged the attack and lepped atop one of the streetlights. It was obvious that she was toying with the man.

As he made another attempt to attack her she once again dodged. This time she jumped on top one of the nearby houses. Saito could see that Kano was extremely agile. Saito could barely see the man as he made his attempts to kill her, but she was able to dodge each blow with ease. It appeared that the two of them were capable of moving faster than the human eye could see. Saito started to wonder if Kano was even human as well. He watched as Kano moved in such an unbelievable fashion.

As the two of them battled they started to destroy the property that they were often standing on. They would jump from rooftop to rooftop, and from street to street, destroying almost anything as they moved. It was clear that they were going all out. Because of this Saito could see that the two of them were unmatched in every way. It was almost as if they weren't human.

Eventually the man landed another blow on Kano. This time he managed to give her a gash that looked fatal. It was then that Kano surprised everyone as she instantly began to heal her wound. She then looked up at the man and gave him a very smug look. "Face it, you aren't going to kill me," she said. She then put her katana away and put up a fighting stance. She only had her fist, but it was pretty obvious to Satio and Louise that she had something planned.

However what happened next was something that no one could have expected. As the man charged her Kano simply sidestepped him and then quickly grabbed his arm. She then pinned him against the ground. It was then that she took her other hand and placed it against his head. "I think it's about time that you leave," she said. Then, as if by magic, the man started to disappear into thin air.

Kano then looked around and could see just how devistated the neighborhood was. She then jumped down to street level and closed her eyes. Saito, Louise, and Tiifania could see that she was trying to concentrate on something. But it wasn't until they saw the buildings around them that they realized what she was doing. They could see the building around them as they started to return back to the way they were before the battle. The three of them couldn't believe their eyes. They watched as each building seemed to repair itself.

Once everything was repaired Kano made her way over to Saito and the others. The look on her face said it all. It was pretty obvious that she wasn't human and that she was fairly content with herself. "You guys okay?" she asked. Saito and Louise nodded then turned their attention to Tiffania. They weren't sure if she had been hurt in the attack but after a quick look at her they could she that she was unharmed.

Saito and Louise then looked back over to Kano. They could see that the clothes she was wearing were now torn to shreds. They saw that the areas that the tears were at were also covered in blood. However they could see that there was no signs of any physical injuries at all on her body. It begged the question; just what was she. Once they asked this question the answer they were give was a little cryptic at best. "Me? In a way I guess you could say that I am a hybrid," she said. She then left the two of them to wonder what she had meant by that as she headed off into the distance.

00000

A short time later Saito, Louise, and Tiffania were taking a train to Kouyou Park Station. From there they headed to a little cafe that Maeko had told them about the night before. The place was called Cafe Dream and it was a very short distance from the station. As they sat down and started to look through the menu, Louise noticed a young girl walking up to them. She turned to Saito and pointed over to the young girl.

The two then looked over and watched as the girl approached them. They could see that she was extremely young. She couldn't have been more than five years old. She had long brown hair and hazel brown eyes. She was wearing an orange ribbon in her hair as well as a white tee-shirt and a pair of blue shorts.

"Hello there," Saito said. "Is there something you need?" The girl looked over to Louise and Tiffania. They could tell that she was a bit curious of them. However she didn't say anything to them. She just looked at them and it was started to creep out Louise. She looked over to Saito and asked him what she was doing. Saito shrugged and asked the girl for a second time if there was anything shee needed help with.

Finally the girl looked over at Saito and smiled. "You guys are going to North High, right?" she asked. Saito and Louise nodded. "Yeah, the two of us are going to North High soon," Saito said. The girl looked over to Tiffania and asked them why she wasn't going to the same school as them. Saito then explained that she didn't live in Japan and as a result she couldn't attend any Japanese schools. The girl once again looked over to Tiffania then back over to Saito. "Well... Maybe my mom can get her into North High," she said.

This statement confused Saito, but before he could ask her what she meant by that the girl was called away by her mother. The three of them watched as the girl ran over to a young woman. She barely looked like she was in her late 20s. She had long brown hair and had the same hazel brown eyes as the girl.

"Do you think that she is the girl's mother?" Louise asked.

"She is a bit young, don't you think?" Tiffania said.

"Too young," Saito added.

They watched as the girl started to talk to the woman as if they had known each other for a long time. As she talked to her the woman looked up toward Saito and the others and smiled. She then continued to talk to the girl and Saito could see that they were in agreement about something.

He soon got the feeling that the woman was very important in some way. From the way she was dressed to the way she acted she seemed to have a whole other vibe about her. He turned to Louise and asked her if she felt the same way. Louise looked at the woman and explained that she too could feel a strange vibe coming from her. "To be perfectly honest I feel like I have seen her before too," Saito said.

"What do you mean?" Tiffania asked. Both she and Louise were a little confused by this. They figured that he had run into the woman before, but to their surprise Saito told them that he had thought that he had seen her on TV. This shocked Louise as she had learned about TV quickly after she had come to Japan. Tiffania on the other had was a little more confused than she was before. "What's TV?' she asked.

Louise jumped at the chance to tell Tiffania about what TV was. Saito could see how excited she was and quietly laughed to himself as Louise started to explain. "TV is a thin box that has moving pictures inside. It's like there are really people inside," she said. Tiffania looked over to Saito to see if she was right but what she saw actually made her smile. She and Louise could see that Saito was shaking his head and laughing quietly to himself. He then looked up and explained that a television was a type of electronic that was meant for entertainment.

"That's what I said!" Louise said in a huff. Saito finally started to laugh out loud and said that she explained what a TV looked like. Saito just rolled his eyes and said nothing. He simply thought to himself that the entire situation was a little goofy. Louise figured that he was mocking her, but Tiffania knew that for Saito this was nothing new. She figured that ever since they had come to live in Japan this was way they always were.

"You know we should get you back to Henrietta. She pretty worried about you," Saito said. Both Louise and Tiffania agreed to this, but Tiffania wanted to see a little more of Earth before she went back to Tristain. This was a little worrying to Louise and Saito, as they weren't really sure who Tiffania would be able to stay with.

They started to discuss where she would be able to stay. They talked about having her stay with Maeko, but it was quickly shot down by Saito. They then talked about having her stay at a nearby hotel for a few days, but when the issue of how the pay for it came up the three of them agreed that it wasn't a really good idea. It was then that Saito remembered something that could help them. "You know... Rebecca live over at at dorm, maybe they have some extra rooms for you," he suggested.

Louise and Tiffania looked at each other in frustration. Rebecca was one of the few people who had helped Tiffania and they knew that she would be able to help her again. They also knew that Rebecca wasn't scared of elves, and that her cousin, Andrew, was a bit of an otaku, so they knew that she was used to elven culture. The only problem was whether or not the dorm mother would allow Tiffania to stay for a few days as a resident. But even with this the three of them agreed that going to Rebecca was a good idea.

To be continued...

 **Author's Note: Well there you have it folk... One of the first in a series of battles that is to come for the series as a whole. Now I know that Haruhi wasn't supposed to play a major role in the story but the young five year old girl and the young woman were Jun and Haruhi. Now the reason I didn't have Jun give her name was to keep the story as part of the "Familiar of Zero" ("Zero no Tsukaima") Side of the story. Other than that there was no reason why I couldn't have name Jun or Haruhi in this chapter.**

 **As for the chapter's name being a reference to RWBY, well... that's a bit of a stretch. Normally I try to have the chapter's title tell what is going to happen in the chapter. I felt like the term "Red Like Roses" would best fit a bloody battle between Kano and a member of the Radicals.**

 **Also for those who are curious about why Kano mentioned the term "Hybrid" it will be explained further in a side story called "The Maiden's Shadow". Hopefully I'll have it ready by the end of 2017.**

 **And with that out of the way, I will see you in the next chapter.**


End file.
